Side-opening sleeve valve

Abstract

A side-opening sleeve valve having an inner barrel with a shaped opening through its cylindrical wall having a longer size along the axis of the inner barrel, and a co-annular outer barrel having shaped opening through its cylindrical wall having a longer size along the axis of the outer barrel. The inner barrel is rotatable relative to the outer barrel between a first open position where the shaped openings overlap to form a side opening into the sleeve valve, and a second closed position where the shaped openings do not overlap. The side opening has an effective axial opening size and an effective lateral opening size in a ratio of at least about 2:1. The side-opening valve is useful with water-less toilet that can empty into the side-opening valve when opened, and when closed, a pigging fluid flush system pushes the waste in the side-opening valve to a sewage system.

I claim: 
     
       1. A side opening sleeve valve, including:
 a) an inner barrel comprising a cylindrical wall having an axis, and a single shaped opening through the wall that has a longer size along the axis of the inner barrel, and 
 b) an outer barrel comprising a cylindrical wall having an axis, and a single shaped opening through the wall, that has a longer size along the axis of the outer barrel, where the inner barrel is disposed co-annularly and rotatably within the outer barrel between a first open position where the single shaped opening in the inner barrel overlaps with the single shaped opening in the outer barrel to form a side opening into the side-opening sleeve valve, and a second closed position where the single shaped opening of the inner barrel and the single shaped opening of the outer barrel do not overlap. 
 
     
     
       2. The side-opening sleeve valve according to  claim 1  where the side opening in the first open position has an effective axial opening size and an effective lateral opening size, and a ratio of the effective axial opening size to the effective lateral opening size is at least about 2:1 and up to 20:1. 
     
     
       3. The side-opening sleeve valve according to  claim 2  where the ratio is at least about 3:1. 
     
     
       4. The side-opening sleeve valve according to  claim 3  where the ratio is up to about 6:1. 
     
     
       5. The side-opening sleeve valve according to  claim 2  where the arc length of the single shaped opening of the inner barrel is less than 180 degrees of the circumference of the inner barrel. 
     
     
       6. The side-opening sleeve valve according to  claim 2  where an inlet end and an outlet end of the outer barrel are configured for connection in fluid communication with an upstream pipe and a downstream pipe, respectively. 
     
     
       7. The side-opening sleeve valve according to  claim 2  wherein the inner barrel has an unobstructed axial pathway passing between the inlet end and the outlet end. 
     
     
       8. The side-opening sleeve valve according to  claim 6 , further including an annular seal ring at both the inlet end and the outlet end, disposed between an outside surface of the inner barrel and an inner surface of the outer barrel. 
     
     
       9. The side-opening sleeve valve according to  claim 6  where an inlet end and an outlet end of the outer barrel are configured for connection in fluid communication with an upstream pipe and a downstream pipe, respectively. 
     
     
       10. The side-opening sleeve valve according to  claim 2  further including a sleeve seal layer disposed between the wall of the inner barrel and the wall of the outer barrel, the sleeve seal layer comprising a cylindrical sheet having an opening that registers with at least one of the opening of the inner barrel and the opening of the outer barrel, to seal between the inner and outer barrels at the periphery of the shaped opening in the outer barrel. 
     
     
       11. The side-opening sleeve valve according to  claim 2 , wherein the single shaped opening through the wall of the inner barrel is up to 90 degrees of a circumference of the inner barrel. 
     
     
       12. The side-opening sleeve valve according to  claim 2 , wherein the single shaped opening through the wall of the inner barrel and the single shaped opening through the wall of the outer barrel each have an arc length of from about 90 degrees to about 150 degrees. 
     
     
       13. The side-opening sleeve valve according to  claim 2  for use in combination with a toilet having a bowl, wherein the side-opening sleeve is configured for isolating the toilet from waste discharge piping to which the side-opening sleeve valve is connected, wherein an open lower end of the bowl is sealingly mounted to the outer barrel of the side-opening sleeve valve and configured for passing a waste material from the bowl through the side opening of, and into, the sleeve valve. 
     
     
       14. The side-opening sleeve valve according to  claim 2  further including a means for rotating the inner barrel relative to the outer barrel. 
     
     
       15. The side-opening sleeve valve according to  claim 14  wherein the rotating means is a post extending from the cylindrical wall of the inner barrel, through a circumferential slot in the cylindrical wall of the outer barrel. 
     
     
       16. The side-opening sleeve valve according to  claim 2  wherein the single shaped opening of the inner barrel and the single shaped opening of the outer barrel are rectangular and are aligned in the first open position. 
     
     
       17. The side-opening sleeve valve according to  claim 2  wherein the single shaped opening of the inner barrel and the single shaped opening of the outer barrel are rectangular, and the axial length of the single shaped opening of the inner barrel is the same or longer than the axial length of the single shaped opening of the outer barrel. 
     
     
       18. The side-opening sleeve valve according to  claim 7  wherein the unobstructed axial pathway has a uniform circular shape between the inlet end and the outlet end.